So, the other day my roommate and I watched Ep. 2 Rifftrax style.
Ugh, that movie is so much worse than I remember. It probably didn't help that the MST3K guys weren't quite on top of their game for it, and so ended up serving to highlight the crappiness more often than they hit solid punchlines.

I do recommend the Rifftrax for Ep. 3 though, which we watched last week. That one is brilliant, shiny comedy gold.

Well, whatever Bender does, it will have to be TOS compliant. But he needs a little time to prepare and wait for events to unfold with what everyone else is doing.

I liked ATOC. It has lots of Hot Jedi Action and that's all I need to be happy. And they don't all die a the end, just a lot of them. The love story is lame, but I never really got Han and Leia either.

I've always felt betrayed by Ep 2, because the big thing that really pumped me up from the trailers was the promise of this awesome duel where Anakin uses two lightsabers, not to mention that amazing leaked image that ALSO promised that Darth Tyranus would use two lightsabers. And I had high expectations that I took for granted: Episode 1's beautiful fight choreography (out of place as it was in that mind boggling film) totally spoiled me. Instead, we got two seconds of spinning (which was basically the trailer footage, plus one second) followed by what amounted to Nick Gillard going, "Waah, this is haard, how about we go back to regular sword fighting, and also turn off all the lights while we're at it"

Had I known then how much of the "duel of the fates" scene was Ray Park, I wouldn't have been as surprised that Gillard pretty much phoned it in any time he was presented with any sort of interesting challenge whatsoever (ie the abortion of a duel that happened between Ben and Grievous...and how come, if Ewan McGregor and Hayden practiced their fight scene for an entire year prior, it was cut like a damn MTV music video, when duel of the fates was practically one giant long shot and yet involved an actor (Ewan) who'd never picked up a sword in his life?? WTF mate? But to its credit, least RotS made up for itself through shear quantity. Also: opening scene). The entire reason I love star wars is because of the space battles and the light sabers. So fifty percent of what I usually like about these movies failed pretty hard in AotC. I still put it above TPM, but it's a sore spot. One that no amount of CGI Yoda hopping around was able to mend. Thought it did make a valiant effort, but I attribute that win to the animators.

Bender, on the other hand...thank god for Bender.
And yes, I promise to keep him TOS compliant if I get my hands on him *pinky swears*

I've always felt betrayed by Ep 2, because the big thing that really pumped me up from the trailers was the promise of this awesome duel where Anakin uses two lightsabers, not to mention that amazing leaked image that ALSO promised that Darth Tyranus would use two lightsabers. ......

Click to expand...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, you've just put your finger on why I religiously avoid spoilers. Anything past a short tag about what the film is about, a little review about the quality and the trailer in the movie theater (and I often avoid that, too) is more than enough for me.

I have never EVER seen a film, no matter how good, that could meet my expectations. No CGI, no performance has exceeded the imagination for me, though they're a lot closer than they used to be. So, I do everything I can to eliminate the expectations so I can just enjoy the movie.

When I saw AOTC I had no idea who Dooku was or Jango Fett or tha Yoda would be fighting. So, I was quite happy with it. I really liked the car chase. Star Wars doesn't seem complete to me without it now.

I had to wait 28 years to see that fight between Obi-Wan and Vader and I was well rewarded with the result. I did not know that there would be two fights going on -- Obi-Wan-Vader and Yoda-Sidious and it worked really well for me.

The lightsaber fight scenes in TPM really looked the best to me, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the battles in the other films.

Now about Bender....... he is a random, chaotic element in the Temple. He's out to get some 'action' into the Jedi Temple, whatever that is.

I'm actually the exact opposite, at least when it comes to movies that aren't star wars (and also star wars). Spoilers just find me. I can't even help it. Citizen Kane? Spoiled by an episode of The Animaniacs. 6th Sense? Spoiled by my ninth grade history teacher. Qui Gon's death? Spoiled at the bus stop the day after the midnight showing. Shawshank Redemption? The ending was shown at the Orientation meeting at the start of my freshman year of college. Seven? Spoiled by a Youtube parody my first roommate showed me. Memento? Spoiled by film students. Fight Club? Spoiled by film students. The Matrix? Well...I actually actively sought that one and STILL nobody was able to tell me, so not The Matrix.

So, Matrix aside, I don't consider the element of surprise to be an important or valid measurement of a film's quality. Because even though I knew what was coming in all those films I mentioned, they were still great films. (except for episode 1. And Seven, which is a little overrated)

I mean, look, when it comes to sword fights, there's literally nothing to spoil except the bloody finish anyway, if there even is one. They're not exactly Shakespearean drama, y'know? So when I say I had high expectations for a duel, what I mean is - I expected to see cool looking stunts involving glowy swords, executed in a competent and non-retarded manner. There are otherwise-crappy Kung Fu movies that meet those expectations with a ten dollar budget. Lucas had enough money to digitally replace heads. So I expected something better than what I saw.

Personal taste aside, Lucas had no right wasting money on unnecessary green-screening effects when the stunt department was understaffed with hacks. His script was terrible enough as it was, and people can only be distracted so long by pretty CG matte paintings. The least he could've done was deliver fight scenes slightly more impressive than the ones I see in fan films. Instead, we end up with things being the other way around - there have been several fan-made duels that've managed to put me on the edge of my seat, and those characters don't even have the luxury of a 20+ year build-up of excitement to give them a dramatic boost.

Wow, do I disagree or what .....especially that bit about 'Lucas has no right.....' But this isn't about Bender anyomre. Waaaaaaaay off topic. If you want to repost that in [link=http://boards.theforce.net/prequel_trilogy/b10669/p1]Prequel Trilogy Forum[/link] in a fight scenes thread or a new one, I'll look it up.

As interested as I am in expanding on this, the argument is old and has been done to death over there. Granted, our eloquence would make for a much more interesting read but I think I'll spare those folks the inevitable headache I'd no doubt cause.

I just thought I'd mention that Bender is going to give the Temple some 'character' by taking advantage of the temporary loosening of the rules on bringing in food since all the food preparation areas are closed for the bomb search and they only have food capsules to eat.

Bender won't be able to get any intoxicating things in (and if he did, he would keep it all for himself anyway) but the deliveries will lead to a massive outbreak of littering in the Temple, which Bender knows that Zamtoe can't stand. But the problem won't be immediately traceable to Bender since everyone else will be eating the food and Zamtoe will be too busy with:

- moving people again
- looking for bombs
- organizing rebuilding in cleared parts of the Temple
- organizing volunteers to help

It will take some time for anyone to discover that Bender has the Jedi Order's credit card.

True. Well Alexis and I have the morning covered. Or part of it, at least. And prior to that, Kit has something planned for Mine and her character that rounds out their little out-of-the-temple romp. So I wouldn't say we're slacking, certainly.